Mine right now off the top of my head is Adam Savage, former co-host of Mythbusters years ago. I sometimes watch his Tested videos whenever he answers questions and he answers them very thoughtfully. A lot of his thoughts, takes and answers based on his experiences and point of view on life and career has helped me be more grounded in my perspective as a worker.
I’m not as much of a freelance worker as he is and I don’t do nearly a lot of cool things that he does that others also do too. But his knowledge and wisdom is seriously something to take into consideration and they’re things I like to try and borrow some aspects from to apply into my life so that I don’t feel as aloft in things as I used to.
I just watched a recent video of his where he answered the question someone asked on the subject of When You Don’t Want a Better-Paying Position. And he went on to basically say, in summary as I perceived it, that sometimes in life the bigger and better positions isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.
Like sure, having more money and being financially secure is never a wrong position in wanting to have. But you also need to find a platform where you’re happy with what you do and maintain a work/life balance while doing it. And just hearing all of what I heard in that video alone was inspiring to me so this man is definitely someone I see as a positive.
Mr. Rogers. Besides all the usual Mr. Rogers stuff even after his death he had the most important lesson for me. Reading an article about him I learned that he kept detailed files on all his friends and acquaintances. He would use them to keep track of birthdays, kids names, etc… all the details that make you a good friend for remembering. To me it really humanizes Fred Rogers and shows that he wasn’t just some inhumanly perfect person. Being a good person was work for Fred Rogers just like it is work for the rest of us. What made him special was his choice to put so much effort into being good. I think that’s the greatest lesson he has for adults.